Cleanup is city’s focus for Majestic Hotel property | News

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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (KTHV) - Cleanup is underway to remove the debris from the old Majestic Hotel site in Hot Springs.

What's left of the old Majestic Hotel is finally coming down and getting cleaned up. What's next for that property is still unknown, but city leaders say that growth in Downtown Hot Springs is not slowing down.

The hotel went up in flames nearly two years ago, and what's left of it is finally being removed.

"I'm still going to classify the fire as a tragedy, but it sure did a lot for organizing the community."

Cole McCaskill is the Hot Springs Downtown Development Director. He said the fire ignited a surge of interest in the downtown historic area.

"For the most part development has been happening in spite of the rubble. In fact a lot of people would credit the fire with really kicking things off."

Interim City Manager Bill Burrough said that the city's focus for the former Majestic Hotel property is to clean it up and make sure it is a good site for another use.

McCaskill says whatever that use may be.

"There's no definite plans on redevelopment on the Majestic site. I think the city is just really focused on getting the rubble cleaned up at this point."

In the meantime McCaskill says visitors to downtown Hot Springs can expect a new Mexican restaurant with patio seating, a Cajun restaurant and a boutique hotel.
"We're not seeing any signs of slowing down. We've already had around $1 million of permits pulled for historic rehabs downtown."

Officials say that the cost to clean up the Majestic site is $300,000. It should take around six weeks.